- Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Harper; Reprint edition (May 17 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061098361
- ISBN-13: 978-0061098369
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,809,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Patricia Gaffney's remarkable talent for describing the bittersweet connections between mothers and daughters makes the novel Circle of Three a mesmerizing study of three generations of women challenged by their shifting relationships and developing self-identities. With her ability to capture the essence of the timeless conflict of mothers' and daughters' various hopes and frustrations and the overall need for an intense connection with family, Gaffney's novel will appeal to readers of many ages.
The lives of grandmother Dana, mother Carrie, and daughter Ruth are instantly altered by the untimely death of Carrie's husband, Stephen. Having recently returned to her hometown in rural Virginia, Carrie had just begun to recognize and express her dissatisfaction in her bland marriage. Stephen's death tips Carrie into a deep depression, and 15-year-old Ruth feels as if she has lost both her mother and her father. Determined to get Carrie back on track, Dana encourages her to accept a job. As Carrie begins to emerge from her depression, she finds solace in the company of her old flame, Jess, and her work as a wooden menagerie designer for a local religious group called the Arkists. When Carrie refuses to return to her old patterns, both Ruth and Dana struggle to adapt to this change and develop their own new approaches to life.
With moments of quirky humor, realistic dialogue, and classic romance, Circle of Three does a tremendous job of describing the complex and conflicting process of growing up--at any age. This novel is sure to linger in your mind for months and to make the lending rounds between moms, daughters, sisters, and friends. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Three generations of small-town Virginia womenAtroubled teen Ruth Van Allen, her equally insecure mother, Carrie Van Allen, and bossy grandmother Dana DanzigerAstruggle to overcome personal problems and self-absorption to grow closer as a family in Gaffney's sweepingly sentimental novel. When Carrie's unfeeling husband Stephen suddenly dies of a heart attack, she desperately wants to bounce back into the arms of divorced farmer Jess Deeping, her conveniently available high school sweetheart. Problem is, Dana never approved of this once wild boy whose rough and rural upbringing reminds her too much of the verbally abusive country home she tried so hard to escape by marrying spineless academic George. Dana also harrumphs Carrie's interest in helping Jess reproduce a miniature Noah's Ark to honor the request of dying Arkist religious cult member Eldon Pletcher. Nevertheless, early on in this sprawling book it becomes clear that, after much flaky deliberation, Carrie will get a second chance with the man she's always loved. Meanwhile, Ruth is experimenting with a perpetually stoned boyfriend and a job at a health-food store, and trying to get over the shock of her father's death. Gaffney (The Saving Graces) relies too heavily on stale pop cultural references and language in telling Ruth's story, and male characters take a lot of abuse in this female-centric drama. Nevertheless, she turns out some resonant scenes, including one in which steely grandma Dana finally admits to an addiction. Though handicapped by transparent characterizations and poor pacing, the novel offers a reliable if predictable emotional roller-coaster ride. Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club selection. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
IT'S NATURAL TO feel guilty after the death of a loved one. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
IT'S NATURAL TO feel guilty after the death of a loved one. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Circle of Three Plus You = Great Reading,
By Julie Jordan Scott "Writer, Life Coach - Owne... (Bakersfield, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Circle Of Three Mm (Mass Market Paperback)
I bought this book because I had read "Saving Graces" and wanted to see if Gaffney's power with the written word would be consistent.I also find myself tired of seeing so many books that are solely based on romance. Is that all women care about? Not this one. Gaffney has an exceptional talent for inhabiting the mind of her characters and speaking distinctively as she writes each character. All three protagonists in this novel are strong, complex, likeable and dislikeable. All three are real. All three are dealing with a variety of players, different challenges in different stages of life. It was effortless to feel compassion, anger, laugh and cry with each of them. While the main point of the book is to be a study of the relationship of three generations of women in the same family, I saw it as an additionally strong study in personal evolution through challenging situations and everyday situations. I saw the responses as realistically human just as each character was realistically human. Some examples of Gaffney's word weavings which I found especially enjoyable: page 66: "Brian's job becoming, at least it had accomplished what my mother, guilt over Ruth, and 50 milligrams of Zoloft hadn't been able to: my return to the real world. Half of me might be in the ether, zoned out and inattentive, mired in the old grief and guilt that a death in the family brings - naturally - but the other half was coping. It was a start." page 101: "Sex weas different -- he could and did make love in the face-to-face position -- but for everyday, standing-up, fully clothed affection he literally couldn't face me." Ruth, the youngest woman, made this observation that stirred me: "My mouth was making too much water, I couldn't swallow fast enough." (This was right before she became ill). There is much, much richness... I suggest you read it for yourself.....
4.0 out of 5 stars
A story about women,
By
This review is from: Circle Of Three Mm (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a great book for women, about women, and the mother and daughter relationship between them.The pivotal character is Carrie, newly widowed and still immersed in the grief and shock that only another widow would understand.Her teenaged daughter Ruth, is struggling with the loss of her father with whom she had never quite connected in the way that she fantasised- a completely open and caring father,daughter bonding.Carrie's mother Dana is a strong woman, still attractive yet overly possessive in a loving way in that she feels that it's her right to direct the lives of her daughter and grandaughter.Carrie is reunited with Jess, the sweetheart of her childhood and teenage years. Under Jess's influence,Carrie resumes painting,decorating a modern day Noah's Ark for a dying man who is convinced that building the Ark is his only way to redemption.This is a very moving story and is totally believable.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully complex characters,
By saranban29 (Temple, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Circle Of Three Mm (Mass Market Paperback)
Never having read a book by Patricia Gaffney before, I wasn't really sure what to expect. At first, I didn't really like it--Carrie seemed very scatterbrained and pathetic after her husband's death, a careless mother and an even worse daughter. Her mother Dana came across as overbearing and horribly tactess. But this book proved that first impressions are not always correct. Not too long passed before I was hooked, simply delighted with the wonderfully realistic characters. I came to like Carrie very much, and her daughter Ruth I liked even more. Ms. Gaffney just does something wonderful with dialogue, even realistically affecting teenage prose. The plot, although not incredibly exciting, was very engaging and the day to day struggles of these three became my own problems as well. I sympathized easily with them, not something every book does for me. I highly recommend this book to just about everyone, just for the sheer brilliance of the story telling--perfectly realistic. I look very much forward to reading The Saving Graces.
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